BILLINGS — Welcome to Beyond the Box, a weekly look at the people, personalities and stories that make Montana high school sports special, beyond the scoreboard.
This week we head to Red Lodge, where a junior track athlete is training for an event Montana high schools don't even offer. We also stop in Shelby, where a golfer made herself a promise before the season started and cashed it in on a freezing cold morning. And we visit Hamilton, where a softball coach appreciates all that one of her senior players brings to the dugout.
Let's get into it.
LEAD STORY
Decathlon dreams: Red Lodge’s Jackson Belinda training now, aiming for college glory
As the spring winds on, Red Lodge junior Jackson Belinda is training for an event he can't actually enter.
Montana high schools don't offer the decathlon, but Belinda is spending this track season living like a 10-event athlete anyway by sprinting, vaulting, hurdling and throwing his way toward a hopeful collegiate decathlon career two years down the line.
Belinda is a classic do-everything kid. Football, wrestling, track, even the school theater when he can wedge it in.
"I've always liked doing everything," he said. "I've never really felt particular towards one event."
Around Belinda is a quiet multi-event pipeline of other Rams athletes who've become decathletes. Will Oley is trying the 10 events at Carroll College and Red Lodge assistant coach Greg Mohl's son Jeff was a Montana State decathlete who is in the Bobcats' hall of fame and a Red Lodge High School record holder.
Red Lodge head coach Michael Browning first taught Belinda in eighth grade and has since coached him in football and track. To Browning, the decathlon idea isn't a whim.
"He's just a smart kid and a good athlete overall," Browning said. "He's one of the hardest-working athletes I've had the pleasure to work with. I have no doubt that he can pick the new events up. Not saying that he'll be a superstar on day one, but I have no doubt that he can do it."
Belinda already had a baseline. He qualified for the Class B state meet in the pole vault last year, and he's a strong sprinter and relay runner. Now he's layering in events he hadn't touched before in the throws, hurdles and high jump.
The learning curve has been humbling. On Belinda's first day practicing hurdles, he attacked them like a box jump, leaping from both feet.
"Everybody just sat there and said it looked like a long jump," Belinda said with a laugh.
Browning and the staff keep speed as the priority while slowly adding pieces. Belinda gets dedicated sprint work and he's on the pole vault three days a week, with jump and throw sessions folded into heavier capacity days. Often he sneaks in 15 or 20 extra minutes after practice for more technical work.
"I'm sore pretty much every day," Belinda admitted.
Mentally, he doesn't sound like someone content to be average across 10 events.
"My goal is to be perfect at everything," he said. "I personally don't like being just good enough. I want to be perfect. I know that's pretty much impossible, but it's a good goal to work towards."
Belinda has had a tough athletic year. A broken finger, mono and a concussion wiped out chunks of football and wrestling. Track is his way to make up for lost time.
Still to come is how to balance team needs with Belinda’s collegiate decathlon goals. But Browning has faith all that will work itself out.
"I'm basically flying and then run really fast and then throw stuff really far," Belinda said. "It's all showing up this year, and I'm really excited about it.”
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
A promise to herself, one shot at a time: Shelby golfer Lily Hooker made herself a promise before this season started that no matter what happened on the course, the attitude stays positive.
It wasn't just a resolution. Last season, negativity had quietly undermined both her game and her enjoyment of it. So, this year she built a simple ritual. Every time she lines up a shot, she runs the same reminder through her mind, one her coaches repeat constantly.
"Attitude and effort is one of the most important parts of every sport," Hooker said. "With this positive mindset, I have become a better teammate and player."
The first test came fast. A frost delay and 35-degree temperatures hit at her opening tournament of the season. Hooker stuck to her routine.
She won.
Hamilton's Casey Kennedy is the goof who grinds: Hannah Martinez has coached Casey Kennedy for four years at Hamilton High School. Martinez doesn't need long to describe her.
"A goofy leader," Martinez says, "who's always laughing and keeping things light."
Don't let that fool you. Kennedy has quietly earned her starting spot as the Broncs' most improved player this season through what Martinez calls "constant work outside of practice." The jokes and the grind, it turns out, aren't mutually exclusive.
Kennedy's blend of energy, effort and newfound confidence has raised the standard for the entire Hamilton program. Her teammates get a player who makes practice fun. Her coaches get one who makes them proud.
"I'm lucky to have coached her all four years here at Hamilton High School," Martinez says.
Update from last week: Visit Field of Hearts – Addie’s Mission on Facebook
Those who were heartened by last week’s lead story in Beyond the Box about Anna Elam’s efforts to install an automatic electronic defibrillator at her Lewistown softball complex can follow the Field of Hearts – Addie’s Mission page on Facebook.
The page was set up by Karina and Robert Cox, the parents of Addison Cox, who is the player who went into sudden cardiac arrest during a game last summer in Helena. Addie was saved because an AED was readily available at the softball fields, and Elam, who witnessed the event, used the scary medical emergency as inspiration to get a device in her hometown.
The mission statement of Field of Hearts tries to raise awareness of the importance of having an AED available at all softball fields, which is what Elam hopes to accomplish, as well. The Cox family, which lives in Rigby, Idaho, has partnered with the Aliver Foundation and is looking to make Field of Hearts a non-profit organization so it can accept donations in the future and offer more AEDs and CPR training, according to Karina.
In an email to MTN Sports and montanasports.com, Karina praised Elam’s efforts.
“Out of what was the worst experience of our lives these positive actions by others we’ve touched by sharing Addie’s experience or by being at the tournament sure help us on the rough days,” Karina wrote.
“Addie has resumed playing and we still have no diagnosis for why she went into Sudden Cardiac Arrest,” Karina continued. “She has handled everything better than I can only imagine most healthy, athletic teenagers could.”
That's Beyond the Box for this week. If you have a story idea, a coach worth spotlighting, or a tradition we should know about, we'd love to hear from you. Reach us at scores@montanasports.com.
See you next time.
